Continuing our on line photo class journey with Kat Eye Studio
Get out of our comfort zone, take at least 100 photographs.
My oldest son said “don’t take photos of flowers” and suggested photographing people. I asked if I could take 100 photos of him, but he declined. I thought about photographing a sporting event, as that would certainly be different. The time crunch was on and I still hadn’t chosen my subject.
My mother and I went out to run errands and grocery shop. My camera is my baby, and I wouldn’t leave it locked in the car, so it went in the store with me. My mother commented that 100 photographs is a lot and suggested taking photos of the fruits and vegetables. My reply was that taking 100 photographs was the easy part. Choosing a subject was the hard part. There is no way I would want to take photographs in a crowded grocery store on a Saturday afternoon. That was further out of my comfort zone than I was willing to go.
Finally, afternoon was approaching and I hadn’t decided. At this point I didn’t have much “oomph” in me and I didn’t approach my lesson wholeheartedly. I decide to photograph books. I love books. We have a lot of books in the house. I have many books that I have collected over the years.
I enjoy the peacefulness of books and the peacefulness of photography. I enjoy going on photo adventures with my husband or by myself. Even in a crowded city, no one takes much notice of you. But in that crowded, bustling grocery store too many people would have noticed me, and I would not have liked it.
Once I started taking photos, I was easily lost in the process, even though I wasn’t that motivated. As I was taking the photos, one of my treasures caught my attention. It is a scrapbook that I found.
Based on the styles and date found on one of the items, I am guessing it was made sometime in the 1920’s. The person who made this scrapbook must have been a woman and she certainly had an artistic and creative streak in her. I was excited at the thought of sharing her book with my classmates and blogging friends. Here are some images from her scrapbook, much different from the scrapbooking style around today.
Hi Phyllis, I can relate to your resistance to taking 100 photos in the grocery store! The scrapbook is indeed interesting and I enjoyed seeing the images within it But I must say that I really love the first photo of the old books on the shelf. The lighting and exposure is lovely and it communicates your love of these volumes.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you found a subject finally Phyllis! Keep your eyes out, there will be more. And maybe someday, even the grocery store. What a wonderful thing to photograph, your collection of books and this scrapbook. It's a treasure! I can almost see the hopes and dreams of the woman who created this, jumping off the pages. Thank you so much for sharing this walk through time. I hope you enjoyed the process, and will keep your eyes out for new subjects now.
ReplyDeleteHello Phyllis, I enjoyed looking at your books and had a soft spot for photo number 3 of the sepia (?) treated picture of a book by Dickens and The Chandos Classics. I liked the feel of that one and immediately felt like opening the pages to discover the contents!
ReplyDeleteWhat fun to see some pages from that vintage scrapbook. I loved the images! I was amused by the one of a lady holding up an umbrella as it was "raining cats and dogs"!
I also enjoyed the photo of House Beautiful 1922 and that last lady with her beauty spot in the twenties style!
Hi Phyllis....another exciting exercise wasn't it? What a great thought to take pictures in the grocery store, if only others were not around, right? The photos of books is a wonderful idea, and on my list of things to take one day. Your book collection is impressive. The scrapbook was interesting to peek inside and see how our former ladies "scrapbooked" in their time and what they found fun and enjoyable to look at and save. My favorite is the 2nd in sepia of the classics. The soft colors make it feel so real. I also like the shades of greens on the others. Your trip down a memory lane was fun and interesting. Thank you for going out of your comfort zone and sharing with us.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't have taken pictures in a store on a Saturday either - so can totally understand that.
ReplyDeleteI love what you have done here. I adore old books and (I used to want to own a 2nd hand book store but never have). Such an unusual subject to photgraphy and I really like how you have handled it with all the processes you have used. And that scrap book is just wonderful. Thanks for sharing it with us.
love the composition & processing on your first image, it looks great!!! also love that you shared that wonderful scrapbook with us, what a lovely piece of history you have on your bookshelf!
ReplyDeleteHi Phyllis,
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful subject! I'm a great book lover, too. I like all the different compositions and details that you've come up with. The third image is my fav - beautiful processing, mood, and design!